The Shamer's Daughter - A Fanfiction

Chapter 25 - Rose

Had she not been as tired as she was, she would probably have run away at once. But Dina had reached her limit. She had fought murderers, dragons, deadlike ladies and men of The Order of the Dragon - she couldn't be bothered by the sleepy and scared voice of a girl about her own age. No matter how many knives she had.

"Here's room enough for two." She said instead of caving in. "And if not, you better find a different spot, because I'm not taking another step tonight." Both girls were quiet for a little while. It was too dark for them to see each other.

"You talk weird." The girl just said as she put away her knife. "Where are you from?" Dina hadn't given much thought to how people from Dunark spoke, but now that she mentioned it, they actually all had a different dialect than the one her and her family was used to.

"Birches." Dina answered before realising that it might not be a good idea to admit that kind of information. Did everyone know where The Shamer came from?

"Where is that?" Apparently not. "Very far away?" Dina was too tired to explain or even care.

"Yes," she just said. "Very far." The chimney was even warmer than she had dared hoped for and she leaned her back against it. She felt her body calm down and she slowly stopped trembling.

"Why are you so wet?" The girl asked, but all Dina wanted to do was to sleep, so she answered with a clearly annoyed voice.

"It's raining."

"Not that much." She looked past Dina's shoulder. "Is someone chasing you?"

"No." She lied without hesitation, which only made the girl more suspicious. But weirdly enough it seemed like it was comforting to her. Like she was less of a threat if she was on the run.

"Yes, there is. Why else would you be hiding here?"

"Why are you hiding? I just need a place to sleep." It was too dark for Dina to see her roll her eyes. She was a weird girl, but Dina was too tired to wonder about it. Too tired to think. Too tired to do anything but sleep.

*

She was awakened by an elbow in her side.

"Hey! Hey Sleepyhead, wake up!" It wasn't dark anymore, but it was barely even morning. "Move! I wanna get out and you're in my way!" Dina turned her head and in the early morning light, she saw an untidy and dirty girl with dirty blonde plaids and an impatient look on her face. But before she could wonder about the events of the night, the thought hit her. It was today. Today her mother would be fed to a dragon, like a lamb offered on a plate. And here she was, filthy and still wet from last night under a cart in Swill Town when Nico and Mr Magnus thought she was with Mrs Petri. Dina quickly closed her eyes before the girl would look into them, but she barely even noticed.

"Come on!"

"Yes, yes, I'm moving alright!" She said as far from calm as anyone could be. She started to move and tried to get up and hit her head on the cart in the process. She could have sworn she heard the girl chuckle. But suddenly her dragon arm started pounding and she had other things to think about. It was so bad, she could barely breathe and a few tears escaped the corner of her eye.

"What's wrong?" The girl wasn't laughing anymore.

"I... hurt my arm." She couldn't exactly say she was bitten by a dragon. And anything she said had to be through clenched teeth because the pain was driving her crazy.

"Yes, I see that," the girl looked at the pile of hay she had gathered under the cart to sleep better. It was covered in Dina's blood. "You bled a lot last night." Dina's arm too was covered in red, icky blood almost from her shoulder to her wrist. And even all over her fingers. And here she had hoped to get to the Widow's house unnoticed. Anyone who looked at her once wouldn't stop looking again with an arm looking like that. She looked at the girl in front of her. She had gotten out and was standing above her while Dina was still sitting down. She was wearing a woolen shirt, that was an odd mix of grey and brown - like it was just made of leftover yarn, which it probably was. Underneath, she was wearing a faded black cotton dress that went below her knees.

"What do you want for swapping clothes with me?" Dina asked at once and she had to repeat when the girl just looked confused.

"So, someone is after you!" She laughed again, which seemed strange considering the situation. Dina pretended like she didn't hear it.

"I can pay you five copper pieces right now and then you can get more when you come to collect the clothes again at... A place I will only tell you if you agree to it." She thought about it for a few seconds before answering.

"How do I know, you won't just fool me? Five coppers? I know this outfit isn't much, but it's worth more than that!" Dina didn't really know what to say.

"I won't." She said, but she couldn't really give her any good reasons to believe her.

"...And I only just got this." She fiddled with the lining of the black dress. "Mum got it from one of the ladies she does laundry for and it's barely even used... I'll just get in trouble if I..." Dina didn't hear the last bit because she only mumbled.

"Come with me home." The girl suddenly suggested. "You can borrow my old skirt and you can have this shirt now." She took off her wool shirt and handed it to her. Now Dina was the one in doubt. Could she trust her? Why was she sleeping under a cart all night if she had a home? Maybe she just figured out who she was and was going to turn her in. But seeing as she didn't really have any other options, she chose to hope for the best. She didn't seem like a liar despite all her talk of knives.

"Are you coming?" The blonde plaids flipped over her shoulders as she turned around and started walking. Dina nodded and carefully put on the sweater she had been given, making sure to move her left arm as little as possible. The girl didn't wait for her, so her tired body had to run a few steps to keep up. When she got closer, she could see that she hadn't been the only girl in pain under that cart last night. Her neck and one of her shoulders were black and blue with marks as if she had fallen or someone had hit her. The girl felt Dina looking at her markings but didn't say anything.

"What's your name?" Dina asked after they had walked for a few minutes in silence.

"Rose. Yours?" Dina was afraid to answer at first. Maybe people knew what the Shamer's daughter was called. Perhaps it would bring her in trouble if she told her the truth. But something inside her told her that it was best not to lie to Rose. You wouldn't get easily away with that.

"I'm Dina." She didn't seem surprised to hear a girl's name, but then again, she had also met her in complete darkness where she could only hear her voice. Rose suddenly stopped walking, reached out her hand and spit in her palm. Dina did the same and they shook hands as if they had just made a deal. Aside from the clothes, none of the girls really knew what the deal was or what it meant, but it gave them both a feeling of trust towards the other.

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